Even experts are amazed at how fantastically fast solar energy is growing in the world. Although today its share in the global energy balance is less than one percent, experts predict that by 2050 it will be at least 27 percent and will surpass all other types of fuel.

In May of this year, the Sol-Iletskaya SES with a capacity of 25 MW was put into operation in the Orenburg region. Photo: Press service of Hevel Group of Companies

What are the prerequisites for such an optimistic forecast? First of all, the amounts invested are about 100 billion dollars a year. And the pace of commissioning of new capacities. In 2016 alone, solar power plants (SPPs) with a total capacity of 70 - 75 GW were commissioned worldwide. That is, over the course of a year, solar energy capacity increased by one third, reaching approximately 300 GW.

If until recently Europe was the world leader, now China has taken the palm. In just a year, the capacity of power plants here has almost doubled, reaching 78 GW. And the plans are Napoleonic: the capacity of solar power plants is planned to be increased by 110 GW by 2020. The country intends to spend hundreds of billions of dollars for these purposes.

Oddly enough, the solar industry barely noticed the drop in oil prices. But the bet on alternative sources in the world was made precisely when the price of hydrocarbon fuels went through the roof.

The general strategy for the development of alternative energy is unlikely to change, the Chairman of the RAS Scientific Council on Non-Traditional Renewable Energy Sources, Deputy Director of the Joint Institute told RG high temperatures RAS Oleg Popel. - Everyone understands that the economy develops in cycles, and a recession will certainly be followed by a recovery. This means that everything will return to normal, including the price of oil. In short, you will still have to rely on alternative energy, including the Sun.

There are several reasons for this boom in solar energy, in particular, the desire of countries to move away from importing hydrocarbons, as well as to solve environmental problems associated with carbon dioxide emissions. But the main incentive is the price of a solar kilowatt. In just a few years, in many countries it has come very close to the price of electricity produced at coal and gas stations.

In Russia, more than three-quarters of the territory does not have a centralized energy supply

What about Russia? Maybe the Sun is not our option? After all, we are a country with a cold climate. But here is the data from the Energy Strategy Institute. The potential of solar energy entering the territory of Russia in just three days exceeds the energy of the entire annual electricity production in the country. Quantity solar radiation varies from 810 kW/hour to square meter per year in remote northern areas up to 1400 kW/hour in the south.

In general, the idea that Russia is a country with little sunshine is fundamentally wrong, says Oleg Popel. - In many regions, including Transbaikalia and Yakutia, it is more profitable to use solar energy than in the Krasnodar Territory and Crimea. There are more sunny days and solar radiation here than in the southern regions.

So we have the sun, but how does it work? Not counting the SPP in Crimea, today there are 10 stations in Russia with a total capacity of about 100 MW, or 0.04 percent of the total installed capacity of the Russian energy system. As for Crimea, today there are five stations with a total capacity of 300 MW, but they are not connected to the country’s unified energy system and operate only on the peninsula.

In general, the scale of Russian solar energy is, of course, tiny compared to China - almost 200 times smaller. Unfortunately, the program adopted in 2009, according to which the share of alternative energy by 2020 was supposed to be 4.5 percent of total output, was disrupted. This figure has now been moved to 2024.

But should Russia chase after the leaders? Experts are sure that this is not our way. It makes no sense for Russia to invest huge amounts of money in this area. Today, the government has chosen three main directions for the development of solar energy. The first is associated with the creation of solar power plants that are connected to centralized energy networks. It is fundamentally important that they can now dump excess generated energy into them. According to Oleg Popel, as soon as documents appeared in 2013-2014 that oblige monopolists to connect “small” energy producers to the network and allow them to earn money from generation, a boom began in our solar energy industry. A private investor has entered this area.

Infographics: "RG"/Alexander Smirnov/Irina Fursova

Today, a so-called capacity supply agreement (CSA) is concluded between the state and the investor, under which the state guarantees a return on investment in an amount that allows the investor to recoup the investment in a maximum of 15 years, says Popel. - A different system operates abroad, there are strict tariffs at which the network buys solar energy from a private owner. We have adopted another option.

Apparently, Russian business liked it. In any case, today all the limits set by the state for the commissioning of solar power plants have been chosen by different companies. They took upon themselves the obligation to launch the stations, even at the risk of receiving fines for missing deadlines. By 2024, they will have to build 57 solar power plants with a capacity of 5 to 70 MW and a total capacity of 1.5 GW.

Some will say that if this is a boom, it is very modest compared to the leaders. Right. But in our country there is an excess capacity of about 25 percent. Therefore, it would be strange to introduce new ones on a large scale now. According to experts, the strategy in the field of solar energy should be reduced to gaining experience in the construction and operation of such stations. In general, we need to develop our technologies to maintain competence in this area.

In China, solar energy is primarily trying to solve environmental problems

The picture is different with remote regions. In Russia, more than 75 percent of the territories do not have a centralized energy supply, power lines do not reach here, so fuel has to be imported, which costs a pretty penny. For example, in Yakutia, the cost of electricity from diesel generators costs 25, and in some places 60 rubles per kilowatt-hour. And here there is a wide field of activity for solar installations.

Recently, for remote regions where there is no centralized energy supply, a national project was adopted to create autonomous solar-diesel installations with a capacity of 100 kW. According to Oleg Popel, many regions have already become interested in it, since the implementation of such systems will save significant funds. Regional energy development programs are already being developed, and almost all of them include renewable sources, including solar.

And although in this case the state does not provide support to business, the national project has found investors who see interest here. By 2021, 100 autonomous installations with a capacity of 100 kW each should be commissioned in different regions, two have already been built in Altai.

And finally, the third direction of solar energy development in Russia is micro-installations with a capacity of up to 15 kW. It is proposed to allow private owners to buy such systems, generate electricity for their needs, and sell the surplus on the grid. The decision to support this project has not yet been made; its regulatory framework is currently being developed.

To implement all these areas, a plant was built in Novocheboksarsk, which produces photovoltaic modules using new technology that are not inferior to the best world standards. Their efficiency is about 20 percent, which is twice as good as that of popular models today. According to the management of the enterprise, this level of production will allow not only to meet the needs of Russia, but also to enter the global market for solar installations.

Batteries, solar panels, electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles - all these technologies today occupy only about 1% of the global market. If you want to make money by investing in the new economy, you should hurry. In 10-15 years, these technologies will become widespread.

1. Energy storage devices and batteries

All owners of laptops or smartphones use Li-ion batteries. From 1995 to 2010, Li-ion batteries fell in price by an average of 14% per year (in dollars per kWh). 2009 was a turning point, as the use of such batteries for the automotive and energy industries began. Due to the growth of investments over the next 5 years, the reduction in the cost of kWh per year has already amounted to 16%.

The cost of batteries is also reduced due to the localization of production. For example, the Tesla Model S uses approximately 7 thousand batteries, each of which can be compared to a smartphone battery. Typically the production process looks like this: lithium is mined in Chile, Argentina or Australia, sent to China, refined to 99+%, then sent to Japan or Korea, where it is packaged and shipped to California, where Tesla installs them in the Model S electric car.

To reduce the cost of producing such batteries by 30-50% within three years, Tesla is building a Gigafactory in Nevada, and plans to build an additional 2-4 such plants in the near future.

One plant will have a capacity of 50 GWh and will produce up to half a million cars per year. For comparison, 100 such plants can satisfy the entire world's electricity demand.

This is a reduction in cost without taking into account technical innovations. Additional technological innovations could yield at least another 5% per year. The dynamics of decreasing battery prices and increasing electricity density are driving the growth of the electric vehicle and solar energy market. The range of electric vehicles is increasing and it becomes possible to store solar electricity, which is supplied unevenly throughout the day.

Largely due to the success of Elon Musk’s projects, competitors are investing or redirecting investments into similar projects:

• In 2015 LG Chem announced the closure of a $4.2 billion petrochemical project in Kazakhstan. These funds are used to produce batteries.
• Chinese company BYD, one of the largest manufacturers of electric vehicles (mainly for the local market) is going to add an average of 6 GW of capacity to its Chinese counterpart Gigafactory every year and reach a total capacity of 34 GW by 2020 (Tesla plans to reach 35 GW by the same time) .
• Companies Foxconn And LG together will add another 22 GW by 2020.
• Company Nissan will add 4.5 GW.
• Samsung, SDI, TDK, Apple, Bosch and others are also planning to increase their capacity to produce batteries and possibly electric vehicles.

2. Solar energy

Since the mid-70s of the last century, the price of solar panels has fallen more than 200 times. Since 1990, the number of installations of solar stations of various capacities has doubled every two years. At this rate, in 14 years solar energy will be able to provide electricity to all of humanity.

A number of countries have already achieved price parity between traditional and solar energy. In the next few years, the cost of solar power in some places is expected to be even lower than the cost of transmitting it from nearby power plants. In this case, traditional energy companies will have to supply electricity for free or even at an additional cost in order to somehow compete with solar.

In many markets, for large electricity consumers, solar energy is already cheaper than any traditional analogues. The cost of 3-5 cents per kWh is equivalent to oil at $10 per barrel, or gas at $5 per cubic meter.

In all major world markets, a technological breakthrough in this area will occur in the early 20s. Solar power plus energy storage will become cheaper than transmitting power over wires. At this moment, a breakthrough should come - the exponential growth of new technologies over several years.

3. Electric cars

In order to understand that the Tesla Model S is not just another toy for the rich like Ferrari and Porsche, but a new technological breakthrough, you need to compare electric cars with cars with an internal combustion engine (ICE). In fact, everything is simple here.

The efficiency of an internal combustion engine is about 25-40% (gasoline 20-30% and diesel 40%). This means that the remaining 60-80% goes to overcoming frictional forces in the engine and to thermal energy that goes to nowhere.

The electric motor has an efficiency of 80-95%, that is, 2-3.5 times more efficient. This fact alone does not provide a breakthrough. But if we take into account that electricity is much cheaper, and its prices are less volatile than the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel, it turns out that an electric car with the same characteristics will consume several times less electricity.

Depending on the country and energy source, these figures can range from 3 to 10 times. When a technology potentially provides a 10-fold improvement, it is likely a breakthrough. And if you also live in a house where solar panels or some other source of renewable energy are installed, then you will be able to refuel your car practically for free - the expenses will only go to installing the panels or wind turbines themselves.

Service

A typical car with an internal combustion engine has more than 2 thousand moving parts. There are several dozen (20-30) of them in electric cars like Tesla Model S. The mechanics of electric vehicle parts are much simpler and, accordingly, the wear of parts is low. Essentially, you only need to change the wheels, like in a regular car, and after 5-7 years you may have to change the batteries.

If we take into account the purchase cost along with the cost of maintenance and the cost of electricity, then the cost of an electric car is already lower compared to cars with an internal combustion engine, and in the future the gap will only increase.

Due to low wear and tear and ease of maintenance, companies like Tesla offer a lifetime warranty.

Fuel

The main factors affecting competitiveness are the price of oil and the price of batteries. For example, to achieve parity in the cost of a car with an oil price of $30/barrel, the price of a battery must drop to $150/kWh.

Yes, the battery remains the most expensive part of an electric car. But, as already mentioned, since 2009, the price of the battery has decreased by an average of 15-20% per year. Now the price continues to fall, with the price expected to drop to $100/kWh by 2020, allowing electric vehicles to compete directly (without subsidies) with traditional cars.

There are a number of other important conditions, the observance of which will allow electric vehicles to move into the mass segment. The minimum driving range should be at least 320 km, recharging time should not exceed half an hour, and the average cost of an electric car should drop to $30 thousand (the average new car in the US costs about $33 thousand).

When all conditions are met, electric vehicles will replace almost all internal combustion vehicles, just as digital cameras once almost completely replaced film cameras (Kodak had revenues of $14 billion in 2000, and already filed for bankruptcy in 2012).

Traditional automakers understand this:

• Company Ford into the production of electric vehicles. In the near future, it plans to transfer almost all development to the new economy. Ford also plans to enter the car sharing and taxi market, similar to Uber.
• GM invested $500 million in Lyft, one of Uber's main competitors. In addition, GM bought the self-driving car developer Cruise for $1 billion.
• Except Tesla and BYD are preparing or have already released their models of electric cars from GM, BMW, Nissan, Kia, Ford - with a range of about 300 km and a price of about $30-40 thousand (in the basic configuration, excluding subsidies).

However, in addition to the obvious leaders at the moment, special attention should be paid to other technology companies (since, as history shows, most breakthroughs do not occur where everyone expects them). Thus, a number of large companies that had never before been involved in the production of cars entered this market.

For example, Foxconn (the largest iPhone assembler) invested more than $800 million back in 2014 in the development of its own electric car, costing around $15 thousand). And in March of this year, Foxconn announced its plans to invest $1.4 billion in electric car battery manufacturer CATL.

It is expected that by 2025, the production of electric vehicles will be able to satisfy the needs of the entire global market. And since it is technically possible to convert most cars with internal combustion engines into electric cars on an industrial scale, the process of mass transition to electric cars can happen earlier.

But there is an even more serious breakthrough that, in symbiosis with energy storage, renewable energy and electric vehicles, can have a colossal impact on the entire world economy. This is an unmanned vehicle.

4. Unmanned vehicles

All major automakers are aggressively investing in driverless vehicles. Many of them have already been announced for 2018-2020. a Level 4 vehicle release, meaning these vehicles never require humans to operate.

Cases:

• BMW has begun aggressively pushing its autonomous vehicle strategy, showcasing an autonomous version of the i8 at CES 2016. There, BMW officially announced that it plans to team up with Intel to make all of its i-series vehicles autonomous.
• Company cars Tesla already 90% autonomous and will become 100% autonomous in 2018.
• Company Bosch will build a plant for the production of chips for unmanned vehicles worth 1 billion euros. The plant is planned to open in 2019.
• Uber is also actively investing in drones. For a company like Uber, the development of self-driving cars will reduce the cost of a taxi ride by 90% - this is what the average driver now charges for a trip.

When will this breakthrough happen and how much will it change the world around us? In order to understand this, it is worth giving examples of cheaper parts needed for unmanned driving.

Lidar is one of the most expensive parts needed for autonomous driving. This is a rotating cylinder that is usually located on the roof. Lidar takes millions of measurements per second to “see” its surroundings. When Google announced a $150,000 add-on price for parts needed for its self-driving car in 2012, the lidar cost was exactly half that amount.

Now Google has managed to reduce the cost of the lidar to $7 thousand, that is, the price reduction was 90% compared to 2012. Costs continue to fall, due in part to growing competition and the ever-increasing computing power of processors.

At the same CES 2016, Nvidia unveiled the Nvidia Drive PX 2, the second generation of GPUs specifically designed for autonomous vehicles. Companies such as Baidu, Tesla, Bosch and Toyota are collaborating with Nvidia. Investor optimism associated with Nvidia's early developments in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence has allowed the company's shares to soar by 64% since the beginning of 2017.

All this points to cheaper technologies for self-driving cars and an increase in their availability, which will only grow. In addition, by 2030, the concept of private car ownership will be obsolete, thanks to the development of the car-as-a-service concept. Thanks to this, the total number of passenger cars will fall by 70-80% by 2030, when all new vehicles will be electric and driverless.

Markets awaiting redistribution

As a result of innovation, a huge number of markets will undergo transformation and redistribution. Besides the classic automotive industry, here are a few of the most obvious ones (although there are many more such markets, especially given the proliferation of IoT technologies).

Oil market

Currently, the transport sector consumes more than 60% of petroleum products. With a massive transition to electric vehicles, the need for so much oil will disappear. Very few power plants run on oil due to its high cost. During the transition period, gas power plants will be in demand, which, in turn, after 2030-2040 will also no longer be needed in such quantities.

Power plants

Power plants powered by fossil fuels, including nuclear power plants. Constantly cheaper alternative energy sources (especially sun and wind) in symbiosis with energy storage devices will make it possible to abandon traditional power plants. There will be decentralization of the entire energy industry. Most households will be able to switch to self-sufficiency of electricity. First of all, people living in their own homes.

Parking

In the event of a massive transition to unmanned vehicles, the need for parking within the city will practically disappear. Now the car is used 4-5% of the time, the rest of the time is spent in the parking lot. When the era of driverless transport arrives, the car will be used 80-90% of the time.

Real estate

In the space freed up by parking, various infrastructure can be built. But at the same time, fewer cars will make life in the suburbs much more attractive, which could cause a real estate crisis within the city.

Logistics

Autonomous vehicles will save huge amounts of money by removing the driver, while seriously optimizing the entire industry.

Insurance

Since more than 90% of accidents are caused by human error, by removing humans from behind the wheel, we will thereby reduce the risk of accidents, which will greatly affect the business model of insurance companies. Many will probably decide to refuse insurance altogether.

Just ten years ago, renewable energy was considered an unprofitable business. Either enthusiasts or victims of the “green lobby” invested in it. But 2017 showed that the day when “clean” energy will be able to compete on equal terms with traditional power plants is very short.

All records broken

The year started with a record set by Denmark. In January, a wind turbine in the town of Østerlied produced almost 216,000 kWh of electricity in one day - enough to power a standard home for 20 years.

The Chinese province of Qinghai, with a population of 5.6 million people, was able to live for an entire week on green energy this summer. The experiment lasted from June 17 to June 23, and during this time, residents of the region consumed 1.1 billion kWh of clean electricity - this is equivalent to burning 535 thousand tons of coal. Powerful hydroresources provided the province with 72.3% of its electricity needs, and the rest was provided by solar and wind generation.

The next world record came in tidal energy generation. It was installed by the Scottish company Atlantis Resources Limited, which, with the help of just two hydro turbines, was able to provide electricity to 2,000 Scottish homes. A month later, Scotland produced hydrogen from tidal energy for the first time, which they plan to use as an alternative fuel for ferries. And in October, Scotland achieved an engineering feat by launching its first floating wind farm 24 kilometers offshore. Its turbines are 253 meters high, and they rise only 78 meters above sea level, and are attached to the bottom with chains weighing 1,200 tons.

The world's tallest wind turbine was built this year in Germany. Its support alone is 178 m high, and the total height of the tower, including the blades, exceeds 246.5 m. The project cost €70 million, but it will pay off in about 10 years: the wind turbine is expected to generate €6.5 million each year .

Hurricanes set a record for all of Europe this fall, allowing the region to get a quarter of its electricity from wind turbines. On one of the windiest days, wind turbines in 28 EU countries produced 24.6% of total energy consumption per day - this would be enough to supply 197 million households.

But Costa Rica can be called a world leader in the use of renewable sources. The country spent a full 300 days in 2017 running solely on wind, water, solar and other renewable energy, breaking its 2015 record of 299 days on renewable energy. The most significant contribution was made by hydropower, which accounts for 78% of the country's energy balance. This is followed by 10% of wind energy, 10% of geothermal energy, and 1% each of biofuels and solar energy.

Collapse in prices for renewable sources

In 2017, the idea of ​​a complete transition to renewable energy sources ceased to seem like a utopia. The global decline in prices for solar energy began last summer, when Saudi Arabia began selling it at 2.42¢/kWh. But when the tariff dropped to 1.79¢/kWh, everyone decided that this was only possible thanks to their climatic conditions, petrodollars and total state control.

However, in November 2017, Mexico's National Electricity Control Center reported that it had received a record solar price offer of 1.77¢/kWh from ENEL Green Power. This price allowed the company to win the tender for the construction of four largest projects with a total capacity of 682 MW.

Experts believe that already in 2019 solar energy will cost 1¢/kWh.

Prices for solar energy in Chile are still higher than in Mexico and Saudi Arabia - 2.148¢/kWh. However, for a country that just five years ago was an energy importer and suffered from speculation and inflated tariffs, this is a colossal result. The country's solar farms, even with current technology, produce electricity that is twice as cheap as coal-fired power plants. And the El Romero power plant has turned Chile into one of the largest exporters of solar energy.

A further drop in prices will be caused by an increase in the efficiency of solar panels. Recently, JinkoSolar once again broke its own record, achieving a polycrystalline battery efficiency of 23.45% in laboratory conditions. Compared to the standard efficiency of 16.5%, this is an improvement of 42%. It is clear that this will soon directly affect tariffs.

Offshore wind energy has also dropped significantly in price and has become cheaper than nuclear energy. Two British companies have offered to build offshore wind farms at auction, which will generate electricity from 2022-2023 at a price of £57.50 per MWh. This is half the price for similar plants in 2015 and less than what the new Hinlkey Point C nuclear power plant offers - £92.50 per MWh.

And German energy producers in October even paid their consumers extra for using electricity. Wind, solar and conventional power plants managed to generate so much energy that for several days the cost of one megawatt dropped below zero, with a maximum drop of €100. Negative electricity prices also set in on Christmas Eve, thanks to warm weather and strong winds. Demand for electricity was so low that power companies paid large consumers up to €50 extra for each MWh consumed.

Solar energy as the main trend

For the collapse in prices for renewable energy, we can thank the countries of the Middle East, which concentrated on its production, which led to the development of competition and a significant reduction in tariffs. In 2017, it was announced that the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (the world's largest network of solar power plants located in a single space in Dubai) was increasing capacity by another 700 MW. In the new configuration, the park will occupy 214 sq. km, and at the center of the site will be the world's tallest solar tower, 260 meters high. The additional structures will give the park the ability to generate 5,000 MW of energy by 2030, when all installation work is completed.

Australia set more modest, but still records in the field of solar energy this year. At the end of November, the country had already built solar stations with a total capacity of 1 GW, and by the end of the year this figure reached 1.05 - 1.10 GW. Another record high this year was the volume of commercial solar roofs. 285 MW were installed in the 10 to 100 kW category, beating the previous record of 228 MW in 2016. In early autumn 2017, solar panels accounted for 47.8% of all electricity generation capacity in the state of South Australia. The Australian energy market operator suggests that by 2019 the record for minimum power consumption could reach 354 MW, and in 10 years solar panels will completely replace power plants.

Since Southeast Asia has long experienced a shortage of land for solar power plants, floating farms may be a way out. It has been announced that a 200 MW solar power plant will be located on the surface of the Cirata Reservoir in the Indonesian province of West Java. The farm will consist of 700,000 floating modules, which will be attached to the bottom of the reservoir and connected by electrical cables to an onshore high-voltage substation. If the project is successful, 60 similar farms will appear throughout Indonesia.

Solar energy will be a real salvation for India. With around 300 million of India's 1.3 billion people still living without electricity, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a €1.8 billion program to electrify all households in the country by the end of December 2018. It will cover approximately a quarter of the country's population, which is more than 40 million families in rural and urban India. Houses without electricity will be supplied with solar panels with a power of 200-300 W, complete with a battery, five LEDs, a fan and a plug, at the expense of the state. They will receive free repairs and maintenance for five years.

Overall, by the end of 2017, the total capacity of solar installations in the world reached 100 GW. China played a huge role in this, taking a leading position in the construction of solar power plants - their total capacity in the country reached 52 GW. Next by a huge margin are the USA (12.5 GW), India (9 GW), Japan (5.8 GW), Germany (2.2 GW) and Brazil (1.3 GW). Slightly more modest contributions were made by Australia, Chile, Türkiye and South Korea.

All the money goes to wind and sun

Perhaps 2017 was also distinguished by the volume of investments in renewable energy sources. Many oil giants, from Royal Dutch Shell to Total and ExxonMobil, have begun investing in energy startups. They believe that in the energy industry, small companies can pose a threat to big players, so you need to always stay on top of trends.

Thus, BP paid $200 million to obtain a 43% stake in Europe's largest solar panel manufacturer Lightsource. The company will be renamed Lightsource BP, and BP representatives will receive two seats on the board. The company will hire 8,000 people for jobs in renewable energy, including wind farms in the United States and biofuel production in Brazil.

Two American financial giants - JPMorgan and Citigroup - announced this fall that they will completely switch to clean energy by 2020. And JPMorgan has pledged to invest $200 billion in renewable energy by 2025. Google also announced an official 100% transition to renewable energy sources: the company’s offices around the world will consume 3 GW of renewable energy. Google's total investments in renewable energy reached $3.5 billion, 2/3 of which were in US facilities.

The World Bank announced it will invest $325 million in the Green Cornerstone Fund to create the world's largest green bond fund for emerging markets. Moreover, starting from 2019, all World Bank Group investments in the oil and gas industry will be stopped. Earlier, the Norwegian Oil Fund, the world's largest sovereign fund with assets of $1 trillion, also announced the same. In addition, this year Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil wrote off billions of barrels of developing oil reserves in Alberta, Canada, as it became unprofitable to spend resources on tight oil at low prices. Shell sold its stake in tar sands assets for $7.25 billion, while its investments in clean energy are growing exponentially.

Repurposing

The transition to renewable energy will put hundreds of thousands of employees out of work oil and gas industry. However, Canadian oil workers saw this as a new opportunity for themselves. They created Iron and Earth, which will help everyone in the oil and gas industry gain skills in working with solar panels and become in-demand specialists when fossil fuel production fades away. During 2018, Iron and Earth plans to retrain at least 1,000 employees in the oil and gas industry, and subsequently open branches across Canada and provide training for specialists in the United States. Moreover, not only for oil workers, but for everyone whose skills may soon be unclaimed: miners, crane operators, metallurgists and others.

Germany solved the problem of unemployment due to the abandonment of the coal industry in an even more effective way. The largest coal mine, 600 meters deep, in the town of Bottrop will be turned into a 200 MW pumped storage power plant. This power is enough for 400,000 homes. It will work on the principle of a battery and accumulate excess energy from solar panels and windmills. Local workers who were fully employed at the mine will have an alternative source of income. And the energy system will be protected from imbalance at times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.

China's state-owned energy company, Three Gorges New Energy Co., operates on the same principle. This year, it partially launched a 150 MW floating solar farm at a flooded coal mine in Huainan County. The $151 million structure began construction in July, and final completion is scheduled for May 2018. Operating at full capacity, it will be able to provide electricity to 94,000 homes and will become the largest in China.

It is clear that interest in renewable energy sources will continue to grow. The point of no return will be 2050 - it is by this time that most countries will completely switch to clean energy. And in 2018, serious steps will be taken in this direction.

Coal-fired power plants in Europe will be the first to be hit. Today, 54% of them are not profitable and exist only to provide peak load. In 2018, Finland will ban the use of coal for electricity generation and increase its carbon tax. By 2030, the country plans to completely abandon this fuel.

The Indian coal mining company Coal India also plans to close 37 coal mines in March 2018 - their development has become economically unprofitable due to the development of renewable energy. The company will save about $124 million on this, after which it will switch to solar energy and install at least 1 GW of new solar capacity in India.

Demand for solar energy in Europe is expected to grow by 35% in just 2018. The main demand for solar panels will come from Spain and the Netherlands, which are planning to implement the largest projects over the next two years. They are expected to reach 1.4 GW and 1 GW respectively.

And Germany and France each crossed the gigawatt mark this year. In Latin America, solar demand in the region will double in 2018, with Brazil and Mexico expected to hit the gigawatt mark. Egypt, South Korea and Australia have also reached a gigawatt of installed capacity.

Launched a program to supply farms with electricity using solar energy technologies. The support mechanism provides for the provision of subsidies to farmers for the purchase of energy equipment necessary for conducting business activities. The subsidies cover 95% of the energy installation costs and do not include tax payments. The remaining 5% of the cost is paid by the farmer. Read more.

The first solar power plant in the region was put into operation in the Republic of Kalmykia

The first solar power plant in the region was put into operation in the Chernozemelsky district of the Republic of Kalmykia. The Hevel company, which built the solar power plant, announced this on August 21, 2019. Read more.

Hevel plant produces 311 thousand solar modules with a capacity of 98 MW

On July 19, 2019, the Hevel group of companies announced that in the first half of 2019, the solar module plant produced more than 311 thousand highly efficient heterostructure solar modules with a total capacity of 98.2 MW, which is 18% more than in the same period last year . Read more.

Elshanskaya solar power plant with a capacity of 25 MW was put into operation

Hevel increased the annual production of solar modules in Novocheboksarsk to 260 MW

A new semiconductor material for solar cells has been created in Russia

A group of Russian scientists has created a new lead-free semiconductor material that can be used in solar cells to improve their efficiency. This was reported on May 13, 2019 by the press service of one of the research participants at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech).

Solar batteries based on complex lead halides, that is, lead compounds with elements of group 17, are of great interest for use at present. periodic table Mendeleev (fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine), with a perovskite structure - reminiscent of the structure of the mineral perovskite, the crystals of which are cubic in shape. Such batteries are characterized by low cost, ease of manufacture and high light conversion efficiency.

Mass production and implementation of perovskite batteries is currently limited by two factors: the low stability of complex lead halides and the toxicity of these compounds. Therefore, the development of alternative lead-free materials, in particular based on bismuth and antimony halides, is being actively developed all over the world. However, all previously obtained samples have low light conversion efficiency. A team of Russian scientists proved that the reason is the suboptimal structure of bismuth and antimony compounds.

Physicists have developed fundamentally new material for solar cells based on perovskite-like complex antimony bromide (ASbBr6, where A is an organic positively charged ion). Solar cells based on this material have shown record light conversion efficiency for antimony and bismuth halides. According to Troshin, this work opens up fundamentally new opportunities for the development of perovskite electronics.

Hevel will build a solar power plant with energy storage in Bashkiria

On April 25, 2019, the Hevel group of companies announced that by the end of 2019 it would build a hybrid solar power plant with industrial energy storage devices in Russia. Solar generation with a total capacity of 10 MW will be located in the Burzyansky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Read more.

A non-toxic method has been found for producing nanosilicon for use in solar cell coatings

On February 13, 2019, it became known that MSU scientists had found a non-toxic way to produce silicon nanomaterials. In the production of silicon nanostructures, which are in demand in various fields of industry, rather toxic hydrofluoric acid is usually used. Employees of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov found a way to avoid its use. The discovery of MSU scientists can find application in the industrial production of nanosilicon-based anti-reflective coatings for solar cells, optical sensors for detecting various molecules, and nanocontainers for drug delivery. The research was carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), its results were published in the international journal Frontiers in Chemistry. Read more.

A plant for the production of solar panels will be built in the Ulyanovsk region

In January, during a working visit to China, a delegation with the governor of the Ulyanovsk region visited the enterprise of the technological partner of the Austrian company Green Source to get acquainted with the company's products and discuss the upcoming construction of a plant for the production of solar panels in the Ulyanovsk region. An agreement on the construction of such a plant was reached with Austrian companies last year.

“At the end of 2018, we agreed with Austrian companies to build an enterprise in the Ulyanovsk region for the production of photovoltaic modules for solar power plants using promising technology,” Governor Morozov said on January 19 on his Facebook page.

2018

Four solar power plants with a capacity of 100 MW will operate in Buryatia by 2022

Four solar power plants (SPP) with a total capacity of 100 MW will operate in Buryatia by 2022. This was announced on Monday by the acting Minister for the Development of Transport, Energy and Road Facilities Alexey Nazimov, speaking at a meeting of the Science Council under the head of Buryatia Alexey Tsydenov.

Owners of solar panels on their homes will be allowed to sell electricity

Local sales companies will be required to buy electricity at an average price, the ministry’s press service explained. The benchmark will be the cost of energy from local large power plants. Owners of private houses in areas that do not have access to the unified power grid of Russia or are not included in the price zones of the European part of the Russian Federation and the Urals with Siberia (for example, the Kaliningrad region and the Far East) will be allowed to sell it at a tariff regulated by the FAS. Installations no more powerful than 15 kW will be able to apply for a guaranteed energy buyback.

It is possible that tax breaks will also be established for owners of wind turbines and solar panels in private homes. Their income from the sale of excess electricity amounts to up to 150 thousand rubles. per year may be exempt from personal income tax. The corresponding issue is being considered by the government.

T Plus begins construction of Russia's largest solar stations

- The development of “green” energy is a key area of ​​work of the Regional Government in developing alternative fuels and preserving the environment. Five solar power plants are already operating in the region. The largest of them was built in Orsk by the T Plus company. With the launch of the second stage, its capacity increased to 40 megawatts. Solar power plants operate in Perevolotsky, Grachevsky, Krasnogvardeysky, Sol-Iletsk districts,” said Yuri Berg. – Today we are taking an important step forward - we are starting the construction of two more alternative energy facilities. Our task is to strengthen the leading position of the Orenburg region in the development of alternative energy. We will accomplish this task, and by 2020 the capacity of all solar power plants in the Orenburg region will be more than 200 megawatts. Today the environmental aspect is becoming crucial to determine the quality and level of comfort of a person’s life. This is a priority of presidential policy. The development of alternative energy is a look into the future, stated the head of the region.

2017

Results of solar energy development for the year

First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexey Leonidovich Texler spoke in January 2018 at the ministerial round table"Innovation for Energy Transformation: How Electric Vehicles/Electric Vehicles are Changing the Energy System", which was held as part of the eighth meeting of the IRENA Assembly.

Alexey Teksler told the discussion participants about the development of renewable energy sources in Russia. According to him, quite recently in Russia, apart from large hydropower, there were no competencies in the field of renewable energy sources, and in a few years a big step forward was made.

“The main result of 2017, which I am ready to state, is that renewable energy in Russia has taken off as an industry,” the deputy head emphasized.

Almost from scratch, Russia has created its own solar energy industry, from research to the production of solar panels and the construction of generating stations. More renewable energy capacity was built in 2017 than in the previous two years. In 2015-2016, 130 MW of renewable energy sources were introduced in Russia, and in 2017, 140 MW were built, of which more than 100 MW were solar power plants, and 35 MW were the first large wind farm, which will be launched in the near future.

Among the key achievements, the First Deputy Minister of Energy also noted the launch of the production of new generation solar panels based on domestic heterostructure technology. Russia began to produce modules with an efficiency above 22%, which, according to this indicator, are among the world's top three leaders in efficiency in mass production. This year it is planned to increase the plant's production capacity from 160 MW to 250 MW.

Alexey Texler expressed confidence that, like in solar energy, a wind energy industry will be created in the next three years. Already in 2016-2017. Large Russian and foreign investors came to the Russian wind energy industry and made commitments to develop the technological and production base in Russia.

The Isyangulovskaya solar power plant was put into operation in Bashkortostan

In the Zianchurinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Isyangulovskaya solar power plant (SPP) with a capacity of 9 MW was put into operation in the fall of 2017.

The investor and general contractor of the project are the structures of the Hevel group of companies (a joint venture of the Renova Group of Companies and RUSNANO JSC). Local contractors were also involved in the construction. After completing all regulatory procedures, the station will begin scheduled supplies of electricity to the network. Investments in the construction of the station amounted to more than 1.5 billion rubles.

In 2015-2016 In the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Bugulchanskaya SPP with a total capacity of 15 MW, as well as the Buribaevskaya SPP with a capacity of 20 MW, were built and put into operation. Since entering the wholesale electricity and capacity market, the stations have generated more than 40 GWh of clean electricity.

With the commissioning of the Isyangulovskaya SPP, the installed solar generation capacity in the region reached 44 MW. The new facility is the third of five that Hevel plans to build in Bashkortostan in the coming years. The total capacity of all solar power plants in the region will be 64 MW, and the total investment volume is estimated at more than 6 billion rubles.

Scientists have found a way to increase the efficiency of solar panels

Russian and Swiss researchers have studied the effect on the structure and performance of solar cells by changing the ratio of components from which the light-absorbing layer of a perovskite solar cell is formed. The results of the work were published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C.

Organic-inorganic perovskites were first developed five years ago, but in terms of efficiency they have already surpassed the most common and more expensive silicon solar cells. The structure of perovskites contains crystalline compounds in which the solvent molecules of the initial components are located. The dissolved components, falling out of solution, form a film on which perovskite crystals grow. Scientists have isolated and characterized three intermediates that are crystal solvates of one of the two solvents most commonly used to create perovskite solar cells. For the first time, scientists have determined the crystal structure of the two compounds.

“We found that the key factor determining the functional properties of the perovskite layer is the formation of intermediates, since perovskite crystallites inherit the shape of the intermediates. This, in turn, affects the film morphology and the efficiency of solar cells. This is especially important when producing thin perovskite films, since the needle-like or thread-like shape of the crystals will lead to the resulting film not being continuous, and this will significantly reduce the efficiency of such a solar cell,” said research leader Alexey Tarasov.

Additionally, the authors studied the thermal stability of the resulting compounds and calculated the energy of their formation using quantum chemical modeling. The authors also found that the crystal structure of the intermediate compound determines the shape of the resulting perovskite crystals, which determines the structure of the light-absorbing layer. This structure, in turn, affects the performance of the resulting solar cell.

The study was carried out by researchers from Moscow State University in collaboration with scientists from the Kurchatov Synchrotron Radiation Center, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, St. Petersburg State University and the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Vekselberg plant begins production of solar panels for export

"Hevel" in the Orenburg and Astrakhan regions

In October, the Governor of the Astrakhan Region, Alexander Zhilkin, and the General Director of Hevel Group of Companies, Shakhrai Igor, signed a bilateral agreement providing for the construction and commissioning of three network solar power plants.

Within two years, the region will have capacity to generate 135 MW of energy with prospects for increasing to 160 MW. The investment cost of the project is 15 billion rubles. It is planned that by the end of the year one power plant will be completed and put into operation. SES will bring additional tax revenue to the regional treasury. According to Igor Shakhrai, for every 10 MW of energy per year, 100 million rubles in taxes will be paid. The general director of Hevel LLC noted that Astrakhan land is the sunniest in the south of Russia. In addition, the region has an established scheme for connecting to the main energy networks. In addition to this, the authorities strongly support and strive to develop clean energy in the region. In total, by the end of the year, 6 solar power plants with a total capacity of 90 MW will be commissioned in the region.

2015

The global solar energy industry is approaching the stage when the production of electricity using the Sun begins to pay for itself at a normal, non-increased tariff; the cost of materials and the amount of necessary investment are falling sharply as technologies develop and the volume effect begins to take effect (producing a lot is cheaper than producing a little). Compared to 2014, the volume of energy generated from solar power plants in the world increased by a third. At the end of 2015, the total installed capacity of photovoltaic solar installations in the world amounted to 227 GW; over the year, the installed capacity of solar power plants doubled. If previously Europe was the world leader in the development of renewable energy, then last year China took over the leadership.

The floating island panel has proven to be in demand in the clean energy market; many countries have adopted this method of generating electricity. For example, in Chile, where mining requires constant energy and water consumption: by placing a solar panel on the surface of numerous lakes, the government made mining cheaper and reduced the carbon footprint.

Floating battery panels are currently being tested at the Los Bronques mine, near which an experimental energy island has been created - the Los Tortolas project is funded by companies from the UK and the USA, the area of ​​solar panels is currently 112 square meters, Chilean Minister of Mining Baldo Procurica. In April, Tortolas was inaugurated; the floating battery cost $250,000, but if successful, the area will be expanded to 40 hectares.

According to experts, solar energy has great prospects in Chile. There are about 800 ponds in the country that can be used to install floating solar power plants (SPP). As conceived by the engineers, the float battery is placed in the center of the body of water, which is used to store “tailings” (waste from mining). This achieves a triple benefit:

• shade reduces the temperature of the pond water;
• water evaporation is reduced by 80%;
• production is reduced in cost many times over by running on solar energy.

Environmentalists applaud this plan, because much more water remains in the mine for natural balance, this approach can reduce the regional consumption of already scarce fresh water.

With this system, Chile is rationalizing its fresh water consumption in line with its goal of improving mining operations and reducing fresh water consumption by 50% by 2030. The carbon footprint is also automatically reduced by producing clean energy.

Chile is gradually increasing its share of clean energy

The Los Bronques mine is located 65 km from the capital of Chile at an altitude of 3.5 km above sea level. Almost 20% of the energy that is produced and used in Latin American country in 2019 - clean. In 2013, the figure was only six percent, which demonstrates a steady increase in the share of green energy in national economy country and its commitment to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement (2015).

The developments of engineers from Ciel & Terre, as well as financial assistance, gave Chile the opportunity to expand the horizons of the energy market and break out of the vicious circle in which electricity is obtained by burning minerals. Floating solar panels are easy to install, maintain and operate. The high-density thermoplastic, installed at a 12-degree angle, is completely environmentally friendly and recyclable. A floating solar power plant does not harm the environment, is cost-effective and flexible in settings.

According to Chilean engineers, this is a simple and affordable alternative to ground-based solar energy facilities. This is an ideal option for water-intensive industries that are limited in water consumption or land area.

Hevel will build a 100 MW solar power plant in Kazakhstan

Cold energy: “anti-solar battery” works at night

Engineers have created a device that can be called a reverse solar battery: it produces current not when it absorbs photons, but when it emits them. Such an energy source could power various equipment at night, releasing heat stored on the Earth's surface into space.

As is known, heated bodies emit radiation. You can easily verify this by raising your hand to a hot battery (preferably from the side so that the rising flow of warm air does not interfere). If the object does not receive from external environment As much thermal energy as it emits, it cools down. In order for an object to cool more efficiently, it must be allowed to freely exchange photons with the coldest possible environment.

Back in the 20th century, physicists theoretically calculated and in recent years experimentally demonstrated the effect of negative illumination. It lies in the fact that a photodiode can generate electricity not only by absorbing photons coming from the external environment (as in a conventional solar battery), but also, on the contrary, by releasing them and thereby cooling. This process consumes energy stored in the device in the form of heat.

To operate such a device, you need a cold environment into which photons will go without returning. And such an environment is at our fingertips, or rather, above our heads: this is open space.

Of course, if such an emitter is simply launched into orbit (and not allowed to heat up from the Sun, keeping it in the shadow), it will quickly release all its heat, become equal in temperature to the vacuum of space and stop generating energy.

However, on Earth it is possible to provide it with thermal contact with the surface of the planet. As soon as the photocell becomes colder than the surrounding bodies, the energy deficit will be filled due to thermal conductivity. Thanks to this, photons will still fly away into icy outer space through the atmosphere, which is quite transparent at wavelengths from 8 to 13 micrometers (a narrow band in the mid-infrared range). Part of the energy of the radiation leaving the installation will be converted into electricity.

This is exactly the device that the authors created. new job. They chose a compound of mercury, cadmium and tellurium (HgCdTe) as the material for the photodiode. This substance emits effectively precisely in the desired wavelength range. After passing through a hemispherical gallium arsenide (GaAs) lens and a barium ferride (BaFe2) window, the photons hit a parabolic mirror that sends them straight into the sky. To get to the diode from the external environment, radiation needs to travel the same path in the opposite direction. All these tricks are needed to ensure that the installation exchanges photons almost exclusively with space, and receives energy from the Earth due to thermal conductivity.

The experimental setup used by Fan's group generated 64 nanowatts per square meter of surface. Of course, such power cannot power devices. However, as the authors calculated, the theoretical limit, taking into account the influence of the atmosphere, is 4 watts per square meter. This is much less than modern solar panels (100–200 watts per square meter), but is quite enough to power some devices.

To bring the installation power closer to this level, you need to select a material for the photodiode with a more pronounced negative illumination effect. Researchers are currently searching for such a substance.

2018

The EU solar energy market grew by 36% over the year

Preliminary data on the development of solar energy in European countries. Germany is still in the lead, Türkiye is in second place, and the Netherlands is in third place.

According to statistics from the Solar Energy Association SolarPower Europe, the European market grew significantly in 2018. In 28 EU countries, 8 GW of solar power plants were commissioned - this is 36% more than in 2017. At the same time, 11 countries have already exceeded their obligations to implement renewable energy sources and reached the 2020 level. The wider European market, including Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Belarus, also showed growth of 11 GW, which is 20% more than a year earlier.

The largest solar energy market on the European continent in 2018 was once again Germany, with new solar power plants with a total capacity of 3 GW. Türkiye, due to the high pace of market development over the past two years, took second place (1.64 GW). The Netherlands, which also set a national record of 1.4 GW of solar power plants put into operation, was in third place at the end of the year.

According to experts, the industry will grow even more in 2019 - the development of solar energy in Europe will be affected by factors such as the abolition of duties on Chinese solar panels and the competitiveness of industrial photovoltaic solar power plants.

Researchers bring solar battery efficiency closer to conventional

On October 5, 2018, it became known that researchers brought the efficiency of a solar battery closer to normal. Solar energy is considered the most sustainable option to replace fossil fuels, but the technology to convert it into electricity must be very efficient and cheap. Scientists from the Department of Energy Materials at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology believe they have found a formula for making low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells.

To achieve this, Professor Yaobing Qi, the leader of the study, identified three conditions that will lead the technology to market introduction and successful commercialization. According to him, the rate of conversion of sunlight into electricity must be high, inexpensive, and also durable.

As of October 2018, most commercial solar cells used in batteries are made from crystalline silicon. It has a relatively low efficiency of about 22%. Ultimately, this leads to the fact that the product turns out to be expensive for the consumer, and his only motivation for purchasing is concern for nature. Japanese scientists propose solving the problem using perovskite.

SoftBank to build largest solar power plant in Saudi Arabia

The corresponding memorandum of intent was signed in New York by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The prince is on a three-week official visit, the TV channel notes.

The planned capacity of the cascade of solar panels is 200 GW - this is several times greater than that of any existing solar power plant. By comparison, the California-based Topaz Solar Farm, one of the largest such power plants, has a peak output of about 550 MW. Energy is stored there by 9 million thin-layer photovoltaic modules.

Dutch startup Oceans of Energy, which specializes in developing floating renewable electricity generation systems, has teamed up with five major companies to build the world's first solar power plant floating on the high seas. "Such power plants are already operating on reservoirs on the mainland. different countries. But no one has built them at sea - this is an extremely difficult task. Have to deal with huge waves and other destructive forces of nature. However, we are confident that by combining our knowledge and experience, we will cope with this project,” said the head of Oceans of Energy, Allard van Hoeken.

According to preliminary calculations, the floating power plant will be 15% more efficient than existing installations. The Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) will select the most suitable solar modules. Its experts believe that for this project it is possible to use standard solar panels, which also work at ground-based solar stations. “We’ll see how they perform in seawater and in adverse weather conditions,” said ECN spokesman Jan Kroon.

Representatives of the consortium emphasize that a floating solar power plant can be installed directly between offshore wind turbines. The waves there are calmer and all the power lines have already been installed. Over the next three years, the consortium will work on a prototype with financial support from the government-run Netherlands Enterprise Agency. And Utrecht University will provide the startup with its research materials.

The cost of solar energy in Australia has fallen by 44% since 2012

This renewable energy craze has led to people actually starting to pay less for electricity. Another advantage to this is that the cost of electricity itself has decreased. Since 2012, the cost of installing and operating solar panels has fallen by almost half.

In 2017, private homeowners and businesses in the country installed panels with a total capacity of 1.05 GW. This assessment is given by the agency responsible for clean energy issues in the country. Authorities say this is an all-time high. The growth of renewable energy at the beginning of this decade was reported to be driven by lucrative subsidies and tax offers, but 2017's growth is different: the country's residents decided to fight rising electricity tariffs in this way, and the movement has become widespread.

BNEF predicts Australia will become the world leader in solar panel adoption. By 2040, 25% of the country's electricity needs will be covered by rooftop solar panels. This will be possible due to the fact that today the payback period for such solutions has decreased to the minimum since 2012. While this does not mean that Australia's traditional power plants are becoming a thing of the past, people are becoming freer to provide themselves with electricity.

2017

South Korea will increase solar generation 5 times by 2030

South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy has unveiled the government's plan to increase solar power generation fivefold by 2030.

The announcement came shortly after President Moon Jae-in, elected this year, pledged to end government support for new nuclear power plants and commit to cleaner sources of electricity. The government has already canceled the construction of six nuclear reactors in South Korea.

In total, the country plans to receive a fifth of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Last year this figure was 7%. To achieve this, it is planned to add 30.8 GW of solar capacity and 16.5 GW of wind capacity by the appointed date. The additional energy will come from major projects as well as private households and small businesses, Minister Paik Ungu said. “We will fundamentally change the path of renewable energy development by creating an environment where citizens can easily participate in the renewable energy trade,” he said.

This means that by 2022, approximately 1 in 30 households should be equipped with solar panels, reports Clean Technica.

However, while South Korea ranks fifth in the world in terms of use atomic energy. The country has 24 operating reactors, supplying approximately a third of the country's electricity needs.

BP invested $200 million in solar energy

The Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the sunniest and driest places on the planet. It is logical that it was there that they decided to build the largest solar power plant in Latin America, El Romero. Giant solar panels cover 280 hectares of area. Its peak capacity is 246 MW, and the plant generates 493 GWh of energy per year - enough to power 240,000 homes.

Surprisingly, just five years ago there was almost no renewable energy use in Chile. The country was dependent on neighboring energy suppliers, which inflated prices and left Chileans suffering from exorbitant electricity bills. However, it is the absence of fossil fuels that has led to a major influx of investment in renewable sources, especially solar energy.

Chile now produces almost the cheapest solar energy in the world. Companies hope the country will become "Saudi Arabia for Latin America." Chile has already joined Mexico and Brazil in the top ten renewable energy producing countries and is now poised to lead the clean energy transition in Latin America.

“The government of Michelle Bachelet has carried out a quiet revolution,” says sociologist Eugenio Tironi. “It is difficult to overestimate her merit in the transition to renewable energy sources, and this will determine the factor in the country’s development for many years.”

Now that Chile's oligopolistic energy market is open to competition, the government has set a new goal: by 2025, 20% of the country's energy should come from renewable sources. And by 2040, Chile is going to completely switch to “clean” energy. Even to experts, this does not seem like a utopia, since the country's solar power plants, with current technologies, produce electricity that is twice as cheap as coal power plants. Solar energy prices fell 75%, reaching a record 2.148 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Manufacturing companies face another problem: electricity that is too cheap does not bring much profit, and maintaining and replacing solar panels is expensive. “The government will have to build long-term strategies so that the miracle does not become a nightmare,” said the CEO of the Spanish conglomerate Acciona, Jose Ignacio Escobar.

Google switches entirely to solar and wind energy

The company has become the world's largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, reaching a total capacity of 3 GW. Google's total investments in clean energy reached $3.5 billion, Electrek writes in November 2017.

Google is officially moving to 100% solar and wind power. The company has signed contracts with three wind farms: Avangrid in South Dakota, EDF in Iowa and GRDA in Oklahoma, which have a combined capacity of 535 MW. Google offices around the world will now consume 3 GW of renewable energy.

The company's total investments in the energy sector reached $3.5 billion, and 2/3 of them are in facilities in. This interest in “clean” sources is primarily due to the drop in the cost of solar and wind energy by 60-80% in recent years.

Google first signed a partnership with a 114 MW solar farm in Iowa back in 2010. By November 2016, the company was already a participant in 20 renewable energy projects. It planned to completely switch to solar and wind energy back in December 2016. Google is now the world's largest corporate buyer of renewable energy.

Smart glass for windows was invented in Sweden

Scientists have been researching this area for a long time and looking for applications for the development. In the modern world, this technology is relevant, since heat loss in houses due to windows is approximately 20%. Scientists believe that their invention can also be used for thermal insulation of various objects.

In Iran, villages sell electricity to the state

As of the fall of 2017, there are more than 200 “green” villages in Iran. It is expected that by the spring of 2018 their number will reach 300. Iran Today reports that in some populated areas countries, solar panels have been installed for ten years. It is noted that the largest volumes of energy from the sun are produced in the provinces of Kerman, Khuzestan and Lurestan.

Initially, the emergence of alternative energy sources in Iranian villages was due to the impossibility of delivering electricity to them from cities. Now they sell their own energy to the Iranian Ministry of Energy. It is planned to develop legislative norms according to which the purchase of electricity in villages will become permanent.

By 2030, Iran expects to produce 7,500 MW of green energy, today this figure is only 350 MW. However, the country has good prospects for the development of solar energy, because on 2/3 of the territory the sun shines 300 days a year.

British scientists have invented solar-powered glass bricks

A team of scientists at the University of Exeter in England has developed glass wall blocks with built-in solar panels. Writes about this architectural portal Archdaily. Blocks can be used in the construction of houses instead of ordinary bricks.

The building material was called “Solar Squared”. As tests in the university laboratory have shown, in addition to generating electricity, the blocks also have a number of other useful properties. In particular, walls constructed in this way allow sunlight into the building well and retain heat in the rooms.

To promote the product, scientists created an innovative company, The Build Solar. Investors are currently being sought. The launch of solar tiles on the market is tentatively planned for 2018.

The world's largest solar power plant was launched in Dubai

The installation of each solar panel cost 6 thousand euros, including rent for a year, repairs and technical equipment. It is planned that the solar panels will operate at public transport stops for about a year, after which they will be transferred to schools and kindergartens.

According to Piotr Switalski, head of the EU delegation to Armenia, the European Union is interested in the development of alternative energy in the country. He called the stop with solar panels “a solar stop of the European Union.”

The year started with a record set by Denmark. In January, a wind turbine in the town of Østerlied produced almost 216,000 kWh of electricity - enough to power a standard home for 20 years.

The Chinese province of Qinghai, with a population of 5.6 million people, ran entirely on green energy this summer. The experiment lasted from June 17 to June 23, and during this time, residents of the region consumed 1.1 billion kWh of clean electricity - this is equivalent to burning 535 thousand tons of coal. Powerful hydroresources provided the province with 72.3% of its electricity needs, and the rest was provided by solar and wind generation.

The Matrix and the Holy Grail: the main achievements of physics in 2017

The next one was the generation of tidal energy. It was installed by the Scottish company Atlantis Resources Limited, which, with the help of just two hydro turbines, was able to provide electricity to 2,000 Scottish homes. A month later in Scotland, for the first time, tidal energy is planned to be used as an alternative fuel for ferries. And in October, Scotland achieved an engineering feat by launching its first floating vessel 24 kilometers offshore. Its turbines are 253 meters high, and they rise only 78 meters above sea level, and are attached to the bottom with chains weighing 1,200 tons.

The world's tallest wind turbine is in Germany this year. Its support alone is 178 m high, and the total height of the tower, including the blades, exceeds 246.5 m. The project cost €70 million, but it will pay off in about 10 years: the wind turbine is expected to generate €6.5 million each year .

A record for the whole of Europe this fall was achieved by hurricanes, which allowed the region to benefit from wind turbines. On one of the windiest days, wind turbines in 28 EU countries produced 24.6% of total energy consumption per day - this would be enough to supply 197 million households.

But in terms of the use of renewable sources, Costa Rica can be called. The country spent a full 300 days in 2017 running solely on wind, water, solar and other renewable energy, breaking its 2015 record of 299 days on renewable energy. The most significant contribution was made by hydropower, which accounts for 78% of the country's energy balance. This is followed by 10% of wind energy, 10% of geothermal energy, and 1% each of biofuels and solar energy.

Collapse in prices for renewable sources

In 2017, the idea of ​​a complete transition to renewable energy sources ceased to seem like a utopia. The global decline in prices for solar energy began last summer, when Saudi Arabia began selling it at 2.42¢/kWh. But when the tariff dropped to 1.79¢/kWh, everyone decided that this was only possible thanks to their climatic conditions, petrodollars and total state control.

However, in November 2017, Mexico's National Electricity Control Center reported that it had received - 1.77¢/kWh from ENEL Green Power. This price allowed the company to win the tender for the construction of four largest projects with a total capacity of 682 MW.

Experts believe that already in 2019 solar energy will cost 1¢/kWh.

Prices for solar energy in Chile are still higher than in Mexico and Saudi Arabia - 2.148¢/kWh. However, for a country that just five years ago was an energy importer and suffered from speculation and inflated tariffs, this is a colossal result. The country's solar farms, even with current technology, produce electricity that is twice as cheap as coal-fired power plants. And the El Romero power plant has turned Chile into one of solar power.

A further drop in prices will be caused by an increase in the efficiency of solar panels. Recently, JinkoSolar once again broke its own record, achieving a polycrystalline battery efficiency of 23.45% in laboratory conditions. Compared to the standard efficiency of 16.5%, this is an improvement of 42%. It is clear that this will soon directly affect tariffs.

Physicists have measured the “shadow” cast by the fourth dimension

Offshore wind energy has also dropped greatly in price and has become... Two British companies have offered to build offshore wind farms at auction, which will generate electricity from 2022-2023 at a price of £57.50 per MWh. This is half the price for similar plants in 2015 and less than what the new Hinlkey Point C nuclear power plant offers - £92.50 per MWh.

And German energy producers in October are completely in favor of using electricity. Wind, solar and conventional power plants managed to generate so much energy that for several days the cost of one megawatt dropped below zero, with a maximum drop of €100. Negative electricity prices also set in on Christmas Eve, thanks to warm weather and strong winds. Demand for electricity was so low that power companies charged up to €50 per MWh for consumption.

Solar energy as the main trend

For the collapse in prices for renewable energy, we can thank the countries of the Middle East, which concentrated on its production, which led to the development of competition and a significant reduction in tariffs. In 2017, it was announced that the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (the world's largest network of solar power plants located in a single space in Dubai). In the new configuration, the park will occupy 214 sq. km, and at the center of the site will be the world's tallest solar tower, 260 meters high. The additional structures will give the park the ability to generate 5,000 MW of energy by 2030, when all installation work is completed.

Australia set more modest, but still records in the field of solar energy this year. At the end of November, the country already had a total capacity of 1 GW, and by the end of the year this figure reached 1.05 - 1.10 GW. Another record high this year was the volume of commercial solar roofs. 285 MW were installed in the 10 to 100 kW category, beating the previous record of 228 MW in 2016. In early autumn 2017, solar panels accounted for 47.8% of power in the state of South Australia. The Australian energy market operator suggests that by 2019 the record for minimum power consumption could reach 354 MW, and in 10 years solar panels will completely replace power plants.

Since Southeast Asia has long experienced a shortage of land for solar power plants, floating farms may be a way out. The Cirata Reservoir in the Indonesian province of West Java has been announced to have a capacity of 200 MW. The farm will consist of 700,000 floating modules, which will be attached to the bottom of the reservoir and connected by electrical cables to an onshore high-voltage substation. If the project is successful, 60 similar farms will appear throughout Indonesia.

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Technologies

Solar energy will be a real salvation for India. About 300 million of India's 1.3 billion people still live without electricity, which is why Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's €1.8 billion plan will bring electrification to all households in the country by the end of December 2018. It will cover approximately a quarter of the country's population, which is more than 40 million families in rural and urban India. Houses without electricity will be supplied with solar panels with a power of 200-300 W, complete with a battery, five LEDs, a fan and a plug, at the expense of the state. They will receive free repairs and maintenance for five years.

In general, by the end of 2017 the world reached 100 GW. China played a huge role in this, taking a leading position in the construction of solar power plants - their total capacity in the country reached 52 GW. Next by a huge margin are the USA (12.5 GW), India (9 GW), Japan (5.8 GW), Germany (2.2 GW) and Brazil (1.3 GW). Slightly more modest contributions were made by Australia, Chile, Türkiye and South Korea.

All the money goes to wind and sun

Perhaps 2017 was also distinguished by the volume of investments in renewable energy sources. Many oil giants, from Royal Dutch Shell to Total and ExxonMobil, are into energy startups. They believe that in the energy industry, small companies can pose a threat to big players, so you need to always stay on top of trends.

Thus, BP is the largest solar panel manufacturer in Europe, Lightsource. The company will be renamed Lightsource BP, and BP representatives will receive two seats on the board. The company will hire 8,000 people for jobs in renewable energy, including wind farms in the United States and biofuel production in Brazil.

Two American financial giants - JPMorgan and Citigroup - announced this fall that they will completely switch to clean energy by 2020. And JPMorgan promised to invest in renewable energy. Google also announced an official 100% transition to renewable energy: the company’s offices around the world will consume 3 GW of renewable energy. Google's total investments in renewable energy reached $3.5 billion, 2/3 of which were in US facilities.

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The World Bank has announced that it will create the world's largest green bond fund for emerging markets. Moreover, starting from 2019, all World Bank Group investments in the oil and gas industry will be stopped. Previously, the Norwegian Oil Fund was the world's largest sovereign fund with assets of $1 trillion. In addition, this year Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil wrote off billions of barrels of developing oil reserves in Alberta, Canada, as it became unprofitable to spend resources on tight oil at low prices. Shell sold its stake in tar sands assets for $7.25 billion, while its investments in clean energy are growing exponentially.

Repurposing

The transition to renewable energy will put hundreds of thousands of oil and gas workers out of work. However, Canadian oil workers saw this as a new opportunity for themselves. They will help everyone in the oil and gas industry gain skills in working with solar panels and become in-demand specialists when fossil fuel production fades away. During 2018, Iron and Earth plans to retrain at least 1,000 employees in the oil and gas industry, and subsequently open branches across Canada and provide training for specialists in the United States. Moreover, not only for oil workers, but for everyone whose skills may soon be unclaimed: miners, crane operators, metallurgists and others.

Germany solved the problem of unemployment due to the abandonment of the coal industry in an even more effective way. The largest coal mine with a depth of 600 meters in the city of Bottrop for 200 MW. This power is enough for 400,000 homes. It will work on the principle of a battery and accumulate excess energy from solar panels and windmills. Local workers who were fully employed at the mine will have an alternative source of income. And the energy system will be protected from imbalance at times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.

China's state-owned energy company, Three Gorges New Energy Co., operates on the same principle. This year it partially launched 150 MW at a flooded coal mine in Huainan County. The $151 million structure began construction in July, and final completion is scheduled for May 2018. Operating at full capacity, it will be able to provide electricity to 94,000 homes and will become the largest in China.

What's next?

It is clear that interest in renewable energy sources will continue to grow. The point of no return will be 2050 - it is by this date that most countries will be completely. And in 2018, serious steps will be taken in this direction.

Coal-fired power plants in Europe will be the first to be hit. Today, 54% of them do not make a profit, and exist only to provide